WBI Founders

Our 17 Year Record

From June 1997 until the present, the Namies have led the first and only U.S. organization dedicated to the eradication of workplace bullying that combines help for individuals via our websites & over 10,000 consultations, telephone coaching, conducting & popularizing scientific research, authoring books, producing education DVDs, leading training for professionals-unions-employers, coordinating national legislative advocacy, and providing consulting solutions for organizations. We proudly helped create the U.S. Academy of Workplace Bullying, Mobbing & Abuse.

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Posts Tagged ‘advice’

When brainy go-getter Nicole*, 28, accepted a position at a trendy beauty start-up in New York City, she thought it was her dream job. “The company promoted itself as being progressive,” says Nicole. But her work situation devolved quickly and became more Mean Girls than The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Early on, when Nicole wasn’t dancing at a company party, a White coworker said to her, “You’re Black. We hired you because you could dance.” Other colleagues laughed. “I always thought that if this type of thing happened I would come back with a response, but I went to the bathroom and cried,” Nicole recalls. “I had never experienced those types of comments—racism—so blatantly in a work setting before.”

Nicole reported the incident to her immediate boss and her complaint got laddered up to the CEO. Although her superiors feigned remorse, she says, “That was the beginning of the end for me in the company.” The bully got promoted, found out Nicole “told on her” and escalated the bullying. During staff meetings, Nicole says her ideas were met with coldness; the bully rallied other coworkers not to associate with her; and more negative remarks—this time about Nicole’s naturally curly hair and clothing—ensued.

Even management turned sour, setting her up for failure by assigning impossible, vague projects. And despite Nicole’s management of million-dollar accounts, she recalls work review meetings being filled with nitpicky, unfounded accusations. “They were systematically trying to push me out without actually firing me,” says Nicole.

I’ve endured a nasty work environment for a very long time. It’s been hard and opened my eyes to the reality that way too many people are walking around with sore egos underneath fake smiles. The self talk going on has got to be self-pitying to an extreme in order for these sick minds to rationalize away their behavior. Be sure there’s a lot of deeply angry insecure people wearing “look normal” masks out there. And when these miserable characters find each other, their conduct turns manic. Like a perfect storm of lunacy. They lose perspective even more, become further delusional, and wage career wars against do-gooder law-abiding ethical people. Nevermind that there are pedophiles, terrorists, and murderers walking the planet. Nope. Not important. Their priority is taking out those who probably deserve a thank you.

At the end of the day, if you’re going to make it through something like this with self-esteem intact (job or no job afterward), you HAVE TO remember the truths about yourself that the sore egos would like you and anyone else to forget. You have to remind yourself everyday who you in fact are and the principles that you stand for. Your self-talk needs to be more profound and more frequent than the magnitude of the vileness and obstacles they’ll keep trying to put in your way.

Resist the urge to concern yourself about what others will perceive regarding you or your reputation. You can’t control people. I have found that folks think what they want to think and I’m certain this goes beyond my experiences and is probably just a universal truth. If someone wants to think less of you because it makes them feel better, they will. And they are going to. ANY old excuse, true or false, will do. Proof is absolutely not required. And if someone is self-content, he or she is not going to waste time or thought to joining the smear campaign. Yes there can definitely be negative consequences that result from damage to your reputation, but at the end of the day, oddly, your reputation really has little to do with you and much much more to do with others’ subjective and often fallible interpretation.

There is no easy way through something like this. You already know how sympathetic employers aren’t to this and so you’ll likely be the only one in your corner AND be outnumbered. So remembering who you are in the midst of evil people, knowing what is right, and acknowledging what are truths are all the “support” you’re going to receive. And you’re going to need all you can get. And know through and through that you’re not the only person out there this is happening to. There are many people enduring this at the very same moment you are.

I was in health care, The interview went great, but the question I was
asked which threw me for a loop was “How do you handle aggressive
coworkers?” I had never been asked that before and so I answered as
such. I did notice when I shook hands at the end one interviewer has a
confident shake and the other had a limp shake as though she was very
passive, I didn’t think much of this, just thought it was weird. And
my gut turned it was saying “I don’t really want to work here
something is off” I got a call and was hired, and since I had not
heard back from another place I had wanted I accepted – though if I
had waited I would have received the phone call of acceptance 2 days
after starting at this place.

Turns out the people who interviewed me were not going to be my boss.
Another weird thing I had never encountered before was my new boss
asked me to remove my degree from my wall frame and bring it in so he
could verify that I had indeed graduated from an approved college. I
said of course I had, that is why I have a license to practice. He
said he is in charge and that is what policy states. So I asked my
parents to FedEx my diploma from another province and dismantled my
diploma and brought it in. It was returned to me with a coffee ring on
it. I thought that was rude and said so. He smiled at me and said in a
mocking tone “I don’t really care.”

Later on there was a discussion where medical professionals were
bashing aboriginals and I spoke up after my boss said “Thank god we
don’t hire them.” I found this extremely judgmental and I spoke up
and said “Wow, I must have slipped by your radar” and I looked at the
other medical professional and said “I am one.” My boss shrank a
little bit. That is when it all went down hill. He would stand over me
and try and intimidate me with his body language. He assigned me to
clean the chairs (I’m a medical professional…), he assigned me to
order gifts for a pharmacy rep he liked, he assigned me to janitorial
duties. I kept jumping through his hoops. One day in the hallway he
sneered at me “You think you are so good, well just remember this, I
can have you replaced like this *snaps fingers in a gun finger pointed
fashion at me*” I said I understand that, I tried to be humorous with
him and I said “You remind me of the boss of office space”. There was
a scholarship for a program I was in and another worker and he leaned
in near me and said the coworkers name and he kept glancing at me as
though wanting me to ask him questions but I didn’t then he said “Well
too bad you won’t be able to apply, because you need MY approval” I
said “Don’t worry, I know how to work hard to get my education”. Later
he said “You have been reported using your cell phone today on the
floor.” I said “How is that possible? I leave my cell in the car, go
look right now.” He didn’t like that I caught him in a lie. Then he
said “Also your documentation is a mess, I have it all here.” I said
“How can it be?” He looked at me with a smile and took out a red pen
and scratched through all my charting, I was shocked that someone so
childish like this was my boss. He told me he couldn’t have me working
anymore, and at this point I said “Listen – clearly you don’t like me,
you know as well as I know that I haven’t done anything wrong, if you
are looking for reasons to fire me, just tell me to quit, don’t resort
to bullying.” His eyes looked like he wanted to kill me. Right there I
saw the look that he wanted to kill me. After this I brought my cell
and put it on record every time I was interacting with him and was
able to document a lot of the abuse.

The last shift I worked, after having handed in my tools for the job
as requested by my boss… I was injured, bleeding and tissue damage.
He never filled out a worker injury and compensation form for me. I
called HR and was told they are well aware of his abuse but
unfortunately cannot do anything, I asked why, and they said they
can’t explain. I came back in from break (calling a few people like a
lawyer, a police officer, workplace harassment team, ceo of the
organization, HR, past employer, a health professions licensing board)
and coming up with solutions as I knew I didn’t think I could handle
anymore verbal or psychological abuse as well as preventable injuries
on the job without saying good bye to my sanity) and decided to give
notice of resignation upon further verbal abuse, which I recorded…
and was witnessed by coworkers).

I quit when he proceeded to berate me in front of a coworker on the
spot I said “I am going home sick, I’m not feeling well” he said “Oh,
do you think you will feel well tomorrow?” I said “Sick enough to hand
in my resignation letter at noon”, he told me I couldn’t do that, he
owns me for 8 hours a day, I said “No one owns me if they can’t treat
me like a human being” Then I listed the employment law act for the
province that stated my rights to resign and told him to look it up,
then I said next look up criminal harassment. He got the hint and told
everyone to go back to work. I said thank you to my team for the
privilege of working with honest human beings and said if they ever
need help or a witness they know how to contact me. I was able to get
written affidavits of the abuse I endured and have them ready with a
retained lawyer if in the event he should ever harass me in the
future. I have wrote a few for other employees. Never in my life have
I experienced that level of abuse with any other human being in my
life.

For a year I had nightmares and panic attacks again, all new for me
and sought therapy. My allies (co-workers), they too were on the
receiving end of some serious petty “one-against-the-other” mind
messing but we made a pact and realized he was trying to keep everyone
confused and fearful in order to have quick obedience. I think the
scarier thing was they had an organization in to address the workplace
bullying within the first month I was there, and yet nothing changed,
further these were people who people went to get therapy from. The
boss hoodwinked the bullying organization.

I was bullied by my supervisor for nine and a half years. I complained
to the administrator . Wrote letters. documented the abuse. I tried
everything to keep my job as work is difficult to find in my state in
my field. She refused to help me advance. She cut my work load and
then wrote me up for not completing the work required for my job even
though. She threatened me , ridiculed me in front of co workers, took
me off of cases that were going well. Called me names did not give me
credit for work I did. She fired me . It has been a year and I am
still trying to gain back my confidence. I won at the unemployment
hearing, but the unemployment office states Susan blackballed me.
Thank you fore offering a place to tell my story. I am still angry but
trying to move on.I found a part time job with experienced works, I am
sewing bags to sell and spending time with my family . I am thankful I
do not have to work with her anymore.

WBI proudly announces its first-ever advice DVD made specifically for bullied individuals and their families featuring our staff. The 90 min. DVD package includes a disc of audio files for uploading to any device. The release date is Dec. 1 — in time for holiday giving.